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Melissa Memorial Hospital is currently in the works to serve as a beta site for the next phase of the Electronic Medical Records.

East Phillips County Hospital District board members were told Thursday, Dec. 27 during their regular meeting that MMH is moving forward to help build and construct the next version of the EMRs with NextGen.

“This will allow us to really be fully integrated,” MMH administrator John Ayoub said. “I think there are multiple, multiple benefits of being a beta site.”

Ayoub said this will be a great way to, as he said director of IT David Bickford puts it, “Melissaize the product.”

In the past, other groups have had products beta tested, and hospitals such as MMH would get the product allotted for mass production.

“Now we will have the opportunity to say this is how we want to do it. This is how we’re going to use it,” Ayoub said. “We will be the first site in the country to utilize this.”

Board member Mike Woodhead stated a few concerns regarding the beta site news. He noted how he feels there will be more work involved for MMH staff, as there were some hiccups and bugs in the road when MMH went live in September with the EMRs.

Ayoub said he feels the transition MMH experienced was relatively smoother than other area hospitals as well as others in the state.

Woodhead noted MMH can’t see the commitment to the patients dwindle when moving forward with the beta site.

Administrator reports activity

Ayoub reported Dr. Patricia Coyman has been seeing patients and fitting in nicely and has been very well received.

The administrator said the credit committee in Washington, D.C. has approved the refinance for the hospital and MMH is currently awaiting the HUD commitment letter. Ayoub said this was the biggest hurdle they had to get over on the way to the finalization of the refinance.

MMH staff members have begun meeting as a part of an ESF Emergency Support Function 8 meeting. ESF 8 is an order signed by George W. Bush that requires everyone to use a common language during a disaster response. It was noted MMH uses NIMS which helps the organization communicate with other hospitals in a time of a disaster. Ayoub said a recent meeting was attended by numerous representatives from county agencies as the county plan hasn’t been updated since 2002. He said it was a successful meeting and another one is already in the works.

The administrator said the hospital experienced an issue with Cheyenne Radiology who experienced a change with their information technology infrastructure and lost a lot of information. Some of the customers who had an x-ray in Holyoke and had it read by Cheyenne Radiology may have had an issue with their statements. Ayoub said MMH is ironing the details out on a case by case basis.

Ayoub also noted a third party who handles the private pay billing for MMH had an issue just after the go-live date of the Electronic Medical Records. He said the company was showing some bills had been sent out when in fact they hadn’t. Ayoub said it’s nothing big but wanted the board to know what is going on in case they are approached by community members.

Other business

In other business Dec. 27, board members:

—approved a capital purchase request for $28,188 to buy more hardware for the hospital’s data center located in Texas.

—accepted the 2013 balanced scorecard strategy map.

—passed the compliance work plan.

—held a 29-minute executive session for negotiations.

—noted the next board meeting will be held Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m.